April 12, 2012

I am officially saying farewell to the "Fab Pick" section on my blog. You can still see all of the previous items that I had featured there in the past, simply click on the Fab Pick label listed on the side and you'll be swept away to the land of Fabulous Goods. I have done a terrible job of keeping up with the what I had hoped to be weekly picks and the reality is that if I spend time hunting for new tidbits to feature there I will spend even less time writing about other things. That's not to say that I will not still post coveted bits and bobs because I certainly will but I'm no longer going to feel the pressure to do so each time I open up my blog and see the Fab Pick of two... three or even four months ago leering at me from the corner.

April 11, 2012

Cahs (known to the broader public as 'cars') and painting are two of my Rockstar's favourite things so in January I decided to combine the two and this is what came of it:

I didn't snap a shot of the completed painting but you can kind of tell from the bottom shot that the result was a really cute rainbow and one very happy boy. I would recommend choosing a car that you don't mind being stained; the wheels on this car have teeny tiny bits of red and blue paint on the wheels even after hours of soaking and some serious scrubbing.

I'm always looking for crafty ideas for my little man that do not take a lot of planning or much time to clean up. Any suggestions?

April 8, 2012

The best $2.00 purchase I've made this year: spill proof toddler sized bubble jar made by Little Kids. I passed it along to the Easter Bunny to give to the Rockstar just in case he wasn't able to make it to Walmart to pick one up for us.

Brilliant. And yes it is actually spill proof, the fact that my living room carpet wasn't drenched today after the Rockstar walked around with the bubble container upside down on more than one occasion is proof. The extra bonus of this little jar is the teeny tiny bubble wand which has a tiny bubble hoop perfect for toddler size lips.

April 7, 2012

Whoever suggested the terribles begin at two clearly did not have children of their own OR their son/daughter entered their world after the child turned two. Our Rockstar is now 21 months old and he has a minor case of the terribles. Thankfully they come and go and he's sweet and kind and loving the majority of the time: of course Grams, Papa, Granny and Grandad never see the terribles. The Rockstar saves the symptoms for Mama and Dada. We hear the word "No" on a regular basis and he will now go and sit himself in time-out when he has done something he suspects could earn a seat in the "naughty spot". The reality is he has only been placed there a handful of times but evidentially they have been effective visits. Generally his terribles involve things that are not destructive or dangerous: he is clearly testing the limits and usually will stop whatever it is he is doing once he's asked if a time out is necessary. But the whining, oh the whining! If you have a secret for curbing the whining please do share it with me.

My favourite defiant moment happened earlier this week. Mike and I took the Rockstar to the park across the street where there are shovels and buckets strewn about the giant sandbox (more like gravel than sand) for the neighbourhood kids to take advantage of. Within moments of arriving the Rockstar dug up a big shovel of gravel and walked over to me. He poured the gravel on my foot giggling. He refilled the shovel and made a motion that warned me I was about to get a face full of gravel. I quickly snatched the shovel from him and told him firmly that we do not throw sand at people.

I tipped the gravel back onto the ground and went to hand him the shovel but it was too late. My sweet boy had already belly flopped into the sandbox whining in his own language (likely something about his meanie Mama). When he finally sat up he had gravel stuck all over his chin and cheeks (he's teething so his drool was acting as glue). I kindly asked him to come to me so I could wipe it off for him and he snapped "No!". Then he really gave it to me: he reached down and scooped up a handful of gravel... wait for it... and he stuffed the handful directly into his mouth. Take that, Mom!!

What a monkey. As I listened to the crunch of gravel between molars I suggested he spit it out and you can guess what his reply was. "No!" Mike asked him if it tasted bad. "No!" We asked if he wanted a drink of water. "No!" He then proceeded to play at the park while crunching on his mouthful of rocks. Yum. Mike was concerned about the fact that his son was chewing on rocks: I said the worst that would likely happen is he would be pooping bits of gravel for a few days and hopefully the natural consequences of stuffing your face with gravel would persuade him to avoid doing it again in the future. Twenty minutes later he happily opened his mouth to allow me brush the gravel from his mouth.

April 6, 2012

**I am posting this three months into my pregnancy but dating it on the date it was written!

Wow! A few months ago we were discussing when we should try for baby number two... IF we should! At the beginning of March we talked about it for the 8 millionth time and agreed it was time to see about adding to our little family of three. Two weeks later: DING DING DING!

YES!! We are pregnant and super duper over the moon thrilled about it! There have been a lot of "Wow.", "Oh my..." and did I mention "Wow!" proclaimed around these parts for the past few days.

I didn't even bother with home pregnancy tests this round considering they gave us false negatives over and over again with our Rockstar. I headed to the doctor on Tuesday after Mike and I had the "Do you think I'm pregnant?" conversation, but I didn't tell Mike I was going. It was so fun surprising him with the news!! Picture mouth hanging open followed by an ear to ear grin.

December 5th is our estimated due date. Now we will have a summer party to plan and a winter party: FUN!!

I can't wait to be able to share our news with everyone we know but of course we are hogging the excitement and sharing with just our immediate family and a few close friends until we reach the three month mark.

Hmmm what will we call this little peanut? Smidge was the Rockstar's in eutero nickname... we'll have to come up with something for our newest addition. xoxo

Who Am I?

I'm a mom, wife and teacher with a serious love for crafting who is trying to figure out how to manage it all. Gingham Skies is a place for me to share my creations, my rants, my raves and some of my favourite fabulous treasures found scattered throughout our online world.